It’s safe to say “John Wick: Chapter 4” avoided the movie theater malaise these past few weeks. During its opening weekend, the fourth installment in the silent-but-deadly hitman franchise set a record by earning just under $74 million. It continued to rake in cash by making $245 million worldwide in its first 10 days.
Much like the smash hit of summer 2022, “Top Gun: Maverick,” the latest “John Wick” movie is an action-packed, winner-takes-all story that doesn’t attempt to evangelize on behalf of contemporary political entities or push ideological goals. They’re the increasingly rare type of movie that exists simply to provide entertainment for entertainment’s sake. But this doesn’t mean they’re void of greater substance.
For instance, both films feature male protagonists who are best characterized by their generally stoic demeanors and resentment of rigid, out-of-touch authority figures and institutions. This archetype is well known to moviegoers, and American cinema is replete with these types of characters: Han Solo, “Dirty” Harry Callahan, John McClane, and Martin Riggs are just a few who come to mind.
The medium would simply not be the same without characters of this nature.
And, to that point, many of the stories that most effectively depict Americanism and our traditional understanding of the founding ethos on-screen are dependent on this archetype — the “noble outlaw.” The various characters portrayed by John Wayne in the Westerns of the mid-to-late-20th century provide us with the clearest example of this.
The Noble Outlaw
The man who stands with one
